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Goliath
Goliaths are massive creatures unafraid of throwing their weight around in a fight. Highly competitive, these strong nomads can prove to be powerful allies and welcome additions to any adventuring party Goliath Racial Traits *+4 Strength, -2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution: Goliaths are massively muscled, but their build sometimes gets in the way when they're trying to be nimble. *Goliath base land speed is 30 feet. *Medium: As Medium creatures, goliaths' have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. *Monstrous Humanoid: As monstrous humanoids, goliaths' are proficient with all simple weapons, but they have no proficiency with any armor or shield. *Powerful Build: The Physical Stature of a Goliath lets him function in many ways as if he were one size category larger. Whenever a goliath is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bullrush attempts, and trip attempts), the goliath is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A goliath is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature's special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A goliath can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject's size category. *Mountain Movement: Because goliaths practically live on the ledges and cliffs of the most forbidding mountains, they are particularly adept at negotiating mountain hazards. Goliaths can make standing long jumps and high jumps as if they were running long jumps and high jumps. A goliath can engage in accelerated climbing (climbing half his speed as a move action) without taking the -5 penalty on the Climb check. *Acclimated: Goliaths are automatically acclimated to life at high altitude. They don't take the penalties for altitude. Unlike other denizens of the mountains, goliaths dont lose their acclimation to high altitude even if they spend a long time at a lower elevation. *+2 bonus on Sense Motive checks: When speaking to one another, Goliaths tend to Augment their verbal communication with subtle body language. They are likewise able to read the unintentional body language of others. *Automatic Laguages: Common and Gol-Kaa *Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Terran *Favored Class: Barbarian *Level Adjustment: +1 Personality Goliaths are known for their almost foolhardy daring. In their mountain homes, they leap from precipice to precipice, heedless of the fatal consequences of a misstep. They place great stock in clan and family; life in the mountains teaches even the youngest goliath to rely completely on his fellows for a hand across a crevasse. Because most goliaths are hunter-gatherers, they tend to be inquisitive, always curious about whether better hunting lies over the next ridge or a good water source can be found in the next canyon. Goliaths are coompletely unsympathetic toward tribe members who can't contribute to the well-being of the tribe anymore--an attitude reinforced by social structures. Old, sick, and otherwise infirm goliaths are exiled from their clans, never to return. Category:Race Category:Races of Stone Category:Monstrous Humanoid Category:Humanoid Category:Level Adjustment Category:Level Adjustment +1 Physical Description A typical goliath is larger than the largest half-orc. Most stand between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 280 and 340 pounds. Unlike with most other races, there is no appreciable difference in height or weight between male and female goliaths. Goliaths have gray skin, mottled with dark and light patches that goliath shamans say hint at a particular goliath's fate. Lithoderms--coin-sized bone-and-skin growths as hard as pebbles--speckle their arms, shoulders, and torso. Their skulls have a jutting eyebrow ridge, wide jaw, and occasional lithoderms as well. Female goliaths have dark hair on their heads, grown to great length and always kept braided. Male goliaths generally have hair only on their limbs. Goliaths' eyes are a brilliant blue or green, and they often seem to glow a little from underneath their furrowed brows. Because their skin moddling has culcural significance, goliaths dress as lightly as possible, displaying their skin patterns for all to see. For the same reason, few goliaths would willingly get a tattoo--to draw on one's skin is tantamount to trying to rewrite one's fate. Goliaths instead decorate themselves with jewelry, often sporting ear, nose, or brow rings. A goliath's lithoderms are also common places to embead a gem or two, since they have few nerve endings and stand out on the goliath's body already. Relations When encountered in the mountains, goliaths are outwarldly friendly to anyone who doesn't threaten the tribe and can keep up with them as they climb from peak to peak. Humans who brave the mountains--rangers and druids, most often--can often earn a tasty meal by helping a team of goliath hunters. Goliaths hold dwarves in particularly high regard, wishing their tribes had the dwarven aptitude for weapon crafting. Some of the brave goliaths climb down into the tunnels and natural caverns under a mountain seeking a dwarf community to trade with. The smaller-than-human races are regarded as curiosities, but many a nimble-climbing gnome or halfling has earned respect by beating a goliath in a race up a cliff. Goliaths view the extended lifespan of an elf as vaguely frightening, finding it hard to imagine a person who could have known one's great-great grandfather. A goliath tribe's attitude toward any nearby giants varies widely. Some tribes eagerly trade with giants; the giants' weapons aren't up to dwarven standards, but they are made in larger sizes (which goliaths greatly prefer). However, giants have a bad habit of trying to turn goliaths into their slaves, using them for menial tasks they're too big or too lazy to do themselves. Conflict inevitably ensues, and soon, either the giants are dead, the goliaths have fled, or the goliaths are chained up as slaves to a giant-lord. Goliaths tend to hold goblinoids and orcs (including half-orcs) at arm's length, noting that the "downlanders" they trade with regard such races as troublemakers. But because goblinoids rarely stray into the high mountains, they are usually someone else's trouble, so goliaths don't bear them any actual malice. Alignment Goliaths have a slight tendency toward chaotic alignments, which is reflected in their wanderlust and the small mobile communities in which they live. Still, each goliath tribe has one or more adjudicators that settle disputes within the clan, and such goliaths are generally lawful. Goliaths have a slight preference for good over evil, since among the high mountain peaks, survival becomes uch easier when one aids a fellow goliath without insisting on recompense. Goliath Lands Because they don't support large-scale agriculture or extensive settlements, the mountain ranges where goliaths live are home to few other intelligent races. Most tribes of goliaths wander from peak to peak, tending their goat flocks and foraging for alpine roots and tubers. Typically, a tribe sets up a temporary villagin in an alpine meadow and remains there for a month or two, then moves on when the season changes or better hunting can be found elsewhere. Larger tribes tend to follow a similar trail from year to year, retreating tolower elevations in midwinter and when they need to trade, then ascending to the highest peaks once the snow melts. Some goliaths live at lower altitudes among humans or other races, most often because their tribe exiled them after a crime, dispute, or injury. Many a folk tale features a forlorn goliath working as a farmhand after a failed courtship in the mountains. Religion Kavaki the Ram-Lord is the primary deity of the goliaths. As the Chief of All Chiefs, he watches over the goliaths and their mountain homes. His clerics say that Kavaki created the goliaths when he found a bush bearing gems in place of fruit growing atop the highest mountain peak in the world. When Kavaki plucked gems from the bush, those gems became the first tribe of Goliaths. Kavaki instructs his followers to seek out the hidden bounty of the mountains and keep the tribe safe from harm. Language For millennia, the goliaths have had only a spoken tongue, Gol-Kaa, which has only thirteen phonetic elements: a, e, g, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, u, th, ''and ''v. Recently the goliaths have picked up the alphabet of the Dwarven language, though the concept of a written language hasn't spread to all the tribes yet. Those tribes that have learned the Dwarven alphabet are busily transcribing the goliaths' vast oral tratition into carvings, cave paintings, and even books. Names Every goliath has three names: a birth name assigned by the newborn's mother and father, a nickname or honorific assigned by the tribal chief, and a family or clan name. The birth name tends to be short--often only a syllable or two--but the clan names often have five syllables or more and always end in a vowel. The honorific isn't a traditional name so much as it a descriptive nickname, often a two-part sobriquet. The honorific can change at the whim of the tribal chief, whether because a particular goliath did something useful for the tribe (earning an honorific such as "Highclimber" or "Nighthunter") or as punishment for failure (a middlename such as "Latesleeper" or "Wanderslost"). Goliaths who have been exiled from their tribe generally carry a middle name that reflects their status, such as "Solitary" or "Kinless." Some specific roles within the tribe, such as lorekeeper or shaman, have honorifics attatched to them as well. When introducing themselves for the first time, goliaths always use the first name/honorific/family name construction, translating the honorific into the listener's language if possible. Thereafter, they refer to themselves and each other by the honorific alone. Goliaths traveling among other races sometimes assign honorifics to their comrades rather than use their given names. ''Male Names: ''Aukan, Eglath, Gauthak, Ilikan, Keothi, Lo-Kag, Maveith, Meavoi, Thotham, Vimak. ''Female Names: ''Gae-Al, Kuori, Manneo, Nalla, Orilo, Paavu, Pethani, Thalai, Uthal, Vaunea. ''Honorifics: ''Bearkiller, Dawncaller, Fearless, Flintfinder, Horncarver, Keeneye, Lonehunter, Longleaper, Rootsmasher, Skywatcher, Steadyhand, threadtwister, Twice-Orphaned, Twistedlimb, Wordpainter. ''Family Names: ''Anakalathai, Elanithino, Gathakanathi, Kalagiano, Katho-Olavi, Kolae-Gileana, Ogolakanu, Thuliaga, Thunukalathi, Vaimei-Laga. Adventurers Traditionally, the only goliaths to become adventurers are those exiled (voluntarily or otherwise) from the goliath tribes high in the mountains. However, since some goliath tribes spend more time with "downlanders," especially the dwarves, it's becoming more common for a tribe to send a particularly competent goliath on a mission that aids the tribe or goliaths in general. Once they descend from their mountain homes, most goliaths find the lowlands fascinating, although they are generally on their guard against "downland tricksters." The same wanderlust that keeps Goliath tribes moving often keeps a lone goliath among humans for far longer than he originally intended. Goliaths in Faerun Goliath tribes exist scattered through out Faerun. A number of them in the Orsraun and Deepwing Mountains of the Vilhon Reach. Over fifty tribes can be found along the Sunrise mountains outside of Thay, five or six in the Sword Mountains north of Waterdeep, and the Starspire Mountains in Tethyr. Some live in the Mistcliffs and Sanarch Mountains on the Cultain Pensinsula, unsean by the "downlanders." There are about three tribes in the Azirrhat Mountains of Anauroch. Goliaths in Eberron Goliaths form scattered communities in remote mountain areas, including the Shadowcrags in the Eldeen Reaches and severa ranges in Xen'drik. They originated in Xen'drik, but most abandoned that continent with the rise of the giant civilization. Goliath wanderers are occasionally seen across Khorvair and Xen'drik. Their barbaric cousins, the feral garguns, live in the frigid regions, including the Frostfell and the Icehorn Mountains in the Eldeen Reaches. Category:Race Category:Races of Stone Category:Monstrous Humanoid Category:Humanoid Category:Level Adjustment Category:Level Adjustment +1